06/17/2011

Queer Gardens: Vizcaya Gardens, Miami

My friend Richard alerted me to this fantastic location, where in 1916, he told me, "the `confirmed bachelor' son of the tractor magnate," James Deering,

created a garden where he entertained friends, including, according to Richard, "many questionable types including John Singer Sargent (whose portrait of Deering is in the Art Institute of Chicago),

and Lillian Gish." Queer gossip!

What's especially cool about this garden is that it's located in the heart of downtown Miami. At the time of its design, Miami was a city of only about 10,000, but in the ensuing years the metropolis grew up around it and now it is a green oasis on the bayshore. James Deering "engaged the assistance of Paul Chalfin, a young New York painter, to supervise the entire project. Deering and Chalfin traveled throughout Europe surveying residential architecture for ideas and obtaining components such as doors, wall panels, mantels and ceilings that would be incorporated into the proposed home." Just like Edward James' Las Pozas, which I wrote about in February, Vizcaya had its origins in an intense personal and creative relationship between and older and a younger man. Deering also engaged the services of a Colombian architect, Diego Suarez, giving the garden a distinctly south-facing orientation.

The property has been repeatedly battered by hurricanes but its Italianate style remains visible. It includes a Maze Garden,

a Secret Garden,

and a world-famous orchidarium.

A monument to the Gilded Age, it's also a natural refuge in the heart of a world city.